


a time to be born

by Roga



Category: Kings
Genre: Biblical References, Gen, Jewish Holidays, Jewish Themes, Shavuot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-17
Updated: 2009-04-17
Packaged: 2017-12-12 22:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roga/pseuds/Roga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the anonymous prompt: “Eli, on the day David was born.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	a time to be born

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to [](http://thedeadparrot.livejournal.com/profile)[**thedeadparrot**](http://thedeadparrot.livejournal.com/) and [](http://miarr.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://miarr.livejournal.com/)**miarr** for the beta; anything wrong is stuff I didn’t listen to them about.

**a time to be born**

On the first day of the harvest festival, Zoe wakes Eli up in the middle of the night. “Come on,” she says softly, shaking his shoulder. “David’s coming. Daddy needs our help with the babies.”

In a moment, Eli blinks awake. Zoe gives him a pair of pants and his shoes, and he puts them on quickly as she moves to the next bed to wake Simon and Nathan up. Eli can hear Daddy in the living room, and he sounds upset, like he does when he’s yelling at people on the phone. Eli swallows, but doesn’t let himself become scared -- even if Zoe and Abby are older, he’s still the biggest _brother_ , and he doesn’t want to scare the little kids. So he runs to the other bedroom, and he sees that Ethan and Zeke are sitting up in their beds sleepily, probably awake from all the noise, and Abby’s in there too, busy soothing Daniel, who’s whimpering. “Eli,” she says when she sees him, looking relieved. “Come here.” Eli’s seven now, old enough to hold the baby by himself, so she carefully hands Daniel over, and then goes to help the twins dress.

Daniel’s fussy but he’s not crying, and Eli feels around the crib until he finds the pacifier and sticks it in Daniel’s mouth. “Remember David?” he whispers. Daniel’s just a baby, but everyone’s been talking about David so much and for so long that maybe he can remember anyway. “You’re gonna be a big brother now too.”

A minute later, Zoe appears in the doorway. “Is everyone ready? Grandpa’s here.”

This is what happened when the twins were born, too. Grandma and Grandpa came with their big van and took all of the children out for a picnic, and then they all had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa’s big ranch and then next day they met Ethan and Zeke for the first time. This time, though, it’s different. Grandpa looks worried, and Grandma’s going to stay at the house with Daddy, and they’re not letting any of the children in to see Mommy at all.

“Why isn’t Mommy going to a hospital?” Eli asks Abby.

“I don’t know,” Abby says, and gives him a small smile. “But she’ll be fine. Grandma was a doctor.” Eli thinks maybe Abby’s just pretending to be brave like he is, but it makes him feel better anyway.

Grandma kisses them all on the cheek and tells them to be good, and then they pile up into the van and Eli’s in charge of making sure everyone’s buckled up. The drive to the ranch feels really really long, even though Daddy always says it’s “only” half an hour, and by the time they pull up to the house the sky isn’t black anymore. Eli stares at the way the wheat in the field shines with gold and pink in the light. He’s never seen the sunrise before.

Grandpa ushers them out of the car, and this time Zoe takes Daniel. Their beds aren’t made up in the guest rooms like they usually are when they come to sleep over, so Grandpa gets them fresh blankets and pretty soon the little kids are asleep again, even the baby, but Eli can’t sleep. The telephone rings, and he can hear Grandpa pick it up after a single ring, talking in his low, rumbly voice that carries through the walls, though he can’t understand what he’s saying. It’s probably news about Mommy. Maybe they got her to a hospital by now, or maybe David is already born. Daniel took an entire day to come, but maybe David’s just really quick. It would be good if he were; maybe then Eli would finally have someone good to play soccer with, even if he’d have to wait a few years to do it. David’s a good name for a soccer player. Like Dave Rayner.

Eli spends a few minutes trying to think up new nicknames for David, before finally slipping out of bed and padding over to the girls’ room. It’s empty. He finds them in the kitchen, watching TV.

“Can’t sleep either?” Zoe asks.

“No,” he mumbles, and then he sees that they’re drinking chocolate milk. “Can I have some too?”

“Sure,” Abby says, and pours him a glass. His sisters are much nicer to him when babies are born, he thinks, and considers that maybe Mommy should have them more often except he thinks they might not have any more room in the car.

They don’t talk much, just sit at the counter watching cartoons, when Grandpa walks in.

“Is Mom okay?” Abby demands immediately.

“I just talked to your grandmother, and everything’s all right.” His smile looks only a little strained, but Grandpa doesn’t lie.

Eli’s eyes widen. “Is David here yet?”

“No, no, that’s going to take some time. But look at this,” he says, and changes the channel on the TV. “Someone else became a big brother today.”

At first Eli doesn’t understand why Grandpa wants them to watch the news because it’s always so boring, but then he realizes that the anchor lady’s talking about the royal family, so he starts to pay attention. “At 4:13 AM this morning, Her Majesty Queen Rose gave birth to a girl, Princess Michelle Benjamin, after fourteen hours of labor at Port Prosperity’s Gibeah Hospital.” The screen shows a lot of people crowded in front of a big white building – like, a _lot_ of people, looking excited and throwing orange confetti in the air. “Princess Michelle, weighing 2100 grams, was born four weeks earlier than expected, but is reported to be healthy and doing well, and currently resting with her mother. The Queen’s own Surgeon-Gynaecologist, Dr. Ezra Brown, was in charge of the delivery. Princess Michelle is second in line to the throne, and congratulatory flowers and telegrams have been pouring into the hospital all morning from dignitaries around the world. Our Royal Correspondent, Bonnie Wilson, reports from the scene.”

“Look!” Zoe points out as the image on the screen changes. “There’s the king!”

“And who is he holding?” Grandpa asks.

Eli peers closer to the TV, until he spots him. “Prince Jack!”

“That’s right,” Grandpa says, smiling. The king is walking across the top of the steps, beaming and waving at the crowd and the photographers, one arm wrapped securely around Prince Jack, who’s draped across his chest. In all the pictures Eli’s seen of the prince, he’s always holding hands with the king; this is the first time he’s seen the king carry him in his arms. But Prince Jack is only two years old, and he’s probably sleepy too, like the little kids. Eli sees him yawn on the screen, and laughs.

“King Silas has just arrived at the hospital,” the woman on the screen is saying. “Right now we’re watching him take Prince Jack up to meet his sister for the very first time, and as you can see, there’s a lot of excitement in the air, and everyone’s looking forward to seeing how their favorite prince reacts to the new addition to the royal family. Now, as we know, the King had to cut his visit to Austeria short when he received news of the Queen going into labor, and he only flew into the country two hours ago. We’ve been getting reports of traffic jams, especially here in the northern regions of the kingdom, as roads in Port Prosperity were blocked to ensure the King’s fast arrival, and simultaneously flooded by people trying to reach the celebra—”

Grandpa switches off the TV. “All right, that’s enough for now.”

Eli doesn’t really care, because it was getting boring again anyway, but he thinks it’s kind of cool that he and the prince are getting to be big brothers again on the same day, even though the prince probably won’t remember any of it, like Eli doesn’t remember when Nathan and Simon were born.

Zoe yawns, then, and Grandpa tells her to try and get some sleep. Abby goes to the living room and curls up with one of her books – Abby keeps a whole bookshelf at the ranch, just for herself -- but Eli’s still not tired at all. There’s no school today because of the holiday, so he asks Grandpa if he can go outside. Grandpa agrees, “As long as I can still see you from the window.”

Which means he can’t go far, but he can still play a little on the edge of the field. So he goes outside and plays some fetch with Rhino, Grandpa’s big dog, and then counts rabbit holes on the ground even though he can’t find any rabbits, and finally just stares at single stalks of wheat until he nearly goes cross-eyed.

The sun’s higher in the sky and it’s starting to get hot when he hears a noise, and he turns around to find two strange figures watching him from the porch. His heart almost stops, but then the one of them waves at him, and he realizes that the woman in the white dress is Nana; she must have been sleeping still when they’d all arrived at the ranch a few hours ago. Eli lets out a relieved breath, and hurries to the porch, almost stumbling over some rocks. It’s not polite to keep old people waiting, and Nana’s really, _really_ old.

“Hi, Nana,” he says when he’s standing in front of her.

Nana smiles at him, but it’s the other man who answers. “Hello, Eli,” he says in a deep voice. He’s tall -- taller than Daddy -- and he’s wearing a white shirt too, that’s almost blinding in the sunlight.

“Eli, this is my friend Ephram,” Nana says, the lilt in her voice sounding a little strange like always.

The man extends a hand to Eli, and Eli hesitates and glances at Nana before shaking it. When Eli releases his hand, Ephram smiles. “Your grandson’s got a good handshake,” he says, and winks at Eli. “Strong. Like a fighter’s.”

“Great-grandson,” Eli corrects, beaming proudly at the praise.

Ephram laughs. “Is that right?” Eli nods. Ephram turns to Nana with a small bow. “My lady, you continue to look young for your age.”

“Don’t talk about my age, Ephram, it’s impolite,” Nana says, but she doesn’t look angry at all. She motions for Eli to take the mug she’s holding, and when he does, she slowly lowers herself to the rocking chair on the porch, then takes the mug back from him. Eli can still feel its heat in his hands, smell the sharp scent of coffee.

Ephram also holding a mug, but he’s not sitting down – he’s just _looking_ at Eli, and Eli waits for a dismissal, not knowing what to do. Finally, Eli asks, “Are you here to help with the harvest?” Eli knows that Grandpa’s too old to do all of the farm work himself, especially now when it’s harvesting season, and that sometimes he hires workers to reap and to gather the crops into bundles and transport anything not left for gleaning.

But Nana frowns, and says, “Eli, Ephram is a man of God, not a field worker.”

“We’re all people of God,” Ephram amends, still looking at Eli, and it’s making Eli uncomfortable – but at least he’s looking at Eli like he’s a grownup, and grownups make conversation, don’t just shift their feet on the floor.

Eli can do that. “So, are you here because of David?” he asks.

Ephram chuckles again. “No, no,” he says, which means he _does_ know who David is. “No, I’m here to visit your great-grandmother. Ruth and I’ve been friends for a long time.” Eli doesn’t understand how they could be, when Nana’s so old and Ephram’s so young, but he doesn’t think it would be right asking.

He’s saved when he hears his name shouted from inside. Nana tells him, “Go,” and Ephram says, “It was nice to meet you, Eli. I’ll see you again someday.”

Eli doesn’t try to figure out what Ephram means – he’s too excited that maybe they’re calling to tell him that David’s born.

It’s not that, he discovers, but the disappointment doesn’t last long: it was Abby who shouted for him, from the kitchen. Grandpa had allowed her and Nathan, who was finally awake, to make Mommy’s favorite cheesecake for when they went to visit her, and Abby called Eli because she knew how much he loved licking the whipped cream from the bowl. Abby loved licking the bowl too, but Eli knew how it went: sometimes being older meant getting everything first, and sometimes it meant giving up what you liked. Eli shares the whipped cream with Nathan, and even gives Abby some too, and then they decorate the cake with breadcrumbs and strawberries. But when they’re not looking, Nathan sticks Daniel’s pacifier in so the baby has something to eat too, and Abby gets upset that the decorations are ruined, but then Grandpa suggests that they make another cake, because the cakes in their household get eaten really fast anyway.

So they make another cake, and by the time they’re done the other kids have all wandered into the kitchen as well. Grandpa orders pizza for lunch, and they all wait outside for the delivery boy and Simon wins and spots him first. After lunch they play with Rhino some more, and the girls read to the little kids aloud from some old storybooks, and they watch some more TV, and Eli starts to get tired, but it’s not fair to leave the girls and Grandpa alone with all the little kids when no other adults are there to help.

Grandpa has a big jigsaw puzzle of the old Shiloh Tower and it’s not very interesting, but they try building it anyway until the twins start crying about how it’s too hard. And then Zoe suggests that they make David orange confetti like Princess Michelle got, and Eli really likes that idea. They don’t have any orange paper, but they have red and yellow and orange crayons, so they spend an hour coloring printer paper and another hour tearing it to shreds and Grandpa gives them a big basket to put it all in.

By the time dinner comes round, Eli’s exhausted, and he can barely taste his scrambled eggs. When Grandpa sees that his eyes just keep closing of themselves, he tells him, “Go to sleep, Eli.”

“No,” Eli says, struggling to stay awake.

“We’ll wake you up the moment we know something,” Grandpa promises, and Grandpa doesn’t lie. So Eli drags his feet the guest room and falls into his bed, and his last thoughts before falling asleep are of the baby. _Just get here already_ , he wills, like maybe David can hear his thoughts while he’s still in Mommy’s belly. _We’re only waiting for you._

At some point later, he feels the bed shift, but it’s only Grandpa taking off Eli’s shoes and drawing up the blanket, and Eli drifts back to sleep, barely registering. A while after that, he feels his shoulder shaking again. “Eli!” Zoe whispers, just like she did this morning.

Eli blinks at her drowsily. “What?”

“David’s born, and Mommy’s okay,” she tells him softly.

“Oh,” he says. David and Mommy are okay. That’s good. “Good,” he adds.

“You can go back to sleep now,” Zoe says, and Eli can barely hear her because he already is.

In the morning -- the second day of the harvest festival -- Eli wakes up to see Daddy standing in the doorway. “Hey, kiddo,” Daddy says, looking tired but happy. “You guys ready to meet your new brother?”

Once everyone’s ready, they drive back in two cars, and the drive takes no time at all. “Now remember,” Daddy tells them when they’re home, “Mommy’s very tired. No shouting, no shoving, no touching the baby unless Mommy says you can.”

Eli treads into the room on his tiptoes, holding tight to Ethan’s hand and making sure he’s quiet too. Mommy’s propped up on some pillows, holding a purple bundle on her belly, and she looks tired too but she smiles widely when she sees them. “Hey,” she murmurs. “Come here.”

It only takes a few moments for everyone to surround her on the bed, and Eli climbs closer so he can see. David’s not as tiny as the twins were when they were born, but he’s still pretty tiny. His skin is reddish, like babies usually are, and there’s a small crown of golden curls on his head, the color of wheat in the sunrise, and when he opens his eyes, Eli can see that they’re a light shade of blue. Eli thinks babies are usually cute but not really pretty, but he thinks David might be a pretty baby too. And when he touches David’s leg, after Mommy says it’s okay, David kicks. It’s a good, strong kick. Eli grins.

They take turns getting closer looks and _ooh_ ing and _aah_ ing, and finally Grandma says, “All right, that’s enough, your mother and David need to rest,” and Eli remembers suddenly that they forgot the confetti. So they all run outside, and Grandpa brings their basket from the car and they each dip in, filling their hands with as much confetti as they can carry, and make Mommy promise to close her eyes before they go back into the room, arranging themselves around her bed. “Surprise!” they cry -- not too loudly -- and Eli flings his hands as high as he can, and the room fills with confetti, swirling and dancing around Mommy and the baby, and Mommy laughs, her eyes clear and joyous.

“It’s beautiful,” she says, and Eli has to agree, watching the scraps of bright orange paper flying all around, fluttering in the air like butterflies.

**Author's Note:**

> According to Jewish tradition, David was born on the holiday of Shavuot, the Biblical harvest festival. David being Ruth's great-grandson is Biblical canon (Ruth was from Moab, an enemy kingdom, not Gath, but them's the breaks). David having two older sisters is also Biblical canon, and even if there's been no mention of them on the show, current show canon (like "I have six _brothers_ "), IIRC, doesn't contradict it either. And even if it does, I like them too much to care :-)


End file.
